GOP files emergency lawsuit to extend polling hours in Maricopa County after election machine problems; UPDATE: Judge rejects motion

UPDATE: A judge denied the motion by Republicans to extend voting hours in Maricopa County.

"The court does not have evidence there was a voter who was precluded the right to vote from what was presented," the judge ruled, according to Fox News.

A lawyer for Maricopa County argued that extending polling hours would create a constitutional problem.

"We must treat all the counties the same," the attorney argued. "That's not giving equal access to the ballot to everybody. So the relief would be more harmful."

Original story below.

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The Republican National Committee filed an emergency request to extend the amount of time polling places are open in Maricopa County, Arizona, after problems were reported with election machines.

RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel tweeted about the lawsuit on election day.

"The RNC is joining a Republican coalition to file an emergency motion to extend poll hours in Maricopa County because voting machines in over 25% of voting locations have experienced significant issues," she wrote.

"The widespread issues – in an election administered by Democrat Secretary of State Katie Hobbs – are completely unacceptable, especially as Republicans flock to the polls to vote in-person on Election Day," she added.

A large turnout of Republican votes was expected at the ballot boxes after several candidates encouraged them to avoid mail-in balloting and instead vote in person.

That backfired when voters reported that their ballots weren't being accepted by vote-counting tabulators in several balloting places. Maricopa County Board of Supervisors chairman Bill Gates said that about 20% of voting centers were reporting problems with tabulators.

Officials later said they had solved the problem with the tabulator machines.

"Maricopa County has identified the solution for the tabulation issues at about 60 vote centers. County technicians have changed the printer settings, which seems to have resolved the issue," read a statement from Maricopa County officials.

"It appears some of the printers were not producing dark enough timing marks on the ballots," they added. "This solution has worked at 17 locations, and technicians deployed throughout the county are working to resolve this issue at the remaining locations."

Republican lawyers asked for polling to be extended for three hours to 10 p.m. in order to allow all voters a chance to have their ballots counted.

"We have dozens of attorneys and thousands of volunteers on the ground working to solve this issue and ensure that Arizona voters have the chance to make their voices heard," McDaniel concluded in her statement.

Here's more about the problems with Maricopa:

Top Republicans file to extend polling hours in Maricopa Countywww.youtube.com